At no point have I ever claimed to be a music expert or have the finger on any pulse of any music scene. Now that i am chartering back into familiar waters, I know that all these bands have been “overhyped, overplayed, and too popular” to the insider crowd and to quote Pierce Hawthorne, I am “streets behind” the times, and the coolest, hippest band just literally formed three days ago and played in the bassist’s garage. I know that. This is going to be a brief entry as I will keep the descriptions short. This is just a list of bands that you should hear from more in the future, but may or may not as the music industry is dead.
Look, we all know the musical artists that came from our neighbour up north. We’re not going to rip on Nickelback or anyone else that came from there because they all came down to the US. Here are five musical acts that I think are worth checking out who aren’t down here full-time yet. It’s Canada we’re talking about here, not some obscure Polynesian country that has nothing but obscure bands. Like I said, this is just five bands, all of different genres, worth a listen to now, not one of those “Hey, if you want to impress your friends, tell them about this crazy Country X Music Genre Y combination”
The Veronicas
The Veronicas are an all female trio from Vancouver whose self-described “Slacker Rock” echos sentiments of simple indie rock like Dinosaur Jr or Sonic Youth… and their songs could make for a good summer JC Penny ad campaign.
http://thecourtneys.bandcamp.com/
Purity Ring
Ok, this synth pop duo isn’t exactly obscure as their debut album Shrines peaked at #32 on the Billboard chart and recently remixed Lady Gaga’s “Applause”, but it is their unique live show that I would like to highlight. As I have wrote numerous times before, it is near-impossible to make a good electronica show. I mean – how many different ways can you press play? Well, this duo has touch lamps and the lighting system running through the mixing board which makes every live show a different experience as he can mix the stage lights on the fly with subtle variations of each song. I highly recommend these two from Edmonton if you are in need of some change of pace music.
http://purityringsongs.com/home/
The Ripperz
The Ripperz are a rock and roll band from Winnipeg that unfortunately took their name from Jesse’s band in Full House. Their sound, well, I really don’t want to compare them to the other Springsteen disciple The Gaslight Anthem, but they do sound like their Canadian counterpart. Just tell me the video for Tonight Part 2 isn’t a commercial for Coca Cola. Anyway, they have a simple sound that echoes warmer times.
Grand Analog
Grand Analog are an old school hip hop sounding…band…from Toronto featuring two brothers (the MC and DJ) and a full band to back them up. If you want me to compare them to early N*E*R*D I will, as it was the same structure (with the band Spymob backing the Neptunes), but they have that old school flavor which is more than welcome to come back. I’m sick of hearing about how Drake started on the “bottom…” Bottom of what, being upper middle class? But if you want me to make a comparison, I’ll say Jurassic 5, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer
Blues Rock! Something that you don’t hear at all anymore unless you’re at some weird country bar at the outskirts of town. Well, this duo of Vancouver has perfected this style and packaged it up for your ears! alright enough with the bad commercial, these two guys are pretty good and worth a listen.
http://www.harpoonistaxemurderer.com/
Thank you for reading.
